This invention relates to a moving image editing apparatus used for producing programs such as television broadcasting programs and video programs and more particularly, to an editing method of a moving image editing apparatus which is (are) suitable for editing image information to which special effect processing of moving image information is applied.
Higher functions have been achieved rapidly in recent years in production equipment for producing television broadcasting programs and video programs by using computers.
To produce a program, it has been a customary practice to employ an image editing method which uses a video tape recorder and repeats fast-forward and rewinding operations of a tape by referring to a tape address counter so as to edit image information. To replace this method, an image editing method using a moving image editing apparatus for editing image information by reading out digital image information stored once in a random access storage device, which is easy to use, can easily store data and is economical, such as a hard disk and an optical disk, has been used in most cases.
When editing is made by using such an editing apparatus, it is one of the indispensable editing works for producing a program to apply a special effect processing to a certain portion or portions in the moving images in order to enrich the representation effects of the image.
The term "special effect" used hereby includes a freeze effect which continuously outputs the image of one frame in the moving image in such a manner as to freeze them for a certain period, and a motion effect represented by a variable effect which reproduces more slowly (slow) or more quickly (fast) a certain portion of the moving images than a normal reproduction speed at which images of 30 frames per second are reproduced. The special effect includes further a superimpose effect which is produced by combining a telop with the moving images of a certain portion and effects which connect cuts and scenes of moving images by using connecting methods such as "wipe", "dissolve", "fade", etc, between the cuts as moving image information corresponding to a series of image contents or between the scenes comprising a plurality of cuts.
Hereinafter, the explanation will be given on the procedures of a processing method when a variable effect processing is applied to moving images in a heretofore known editing apparatus.
The term "variable effect processing" means a processing applied to the moving images which are reproduced at a reproduction speed different from a standard reproduction speed. It will be assumed hereby that the standard reproduction speed is 30 frames per second, for example. When the moving images recorded at 30 frames/sec are reproduced twice an each frame continuously, this reproduction becomes a slow reproduction at a 50% speed. And a high speed reproduction at a 200% speed can be achieved by outputting the moving images recorded at a 30 frame/sec while the odd-numbered or even-numbered frames are being skipped.
FIGS. 2 and 3 depict an original moving image 1101 by the framework image of the picture film. Square frames with reference numerals 0 to 9 represent respectively the frames of the moving image. Reproduction is effected from the frame 0 (frame with frame No. 0) to the frame 9 (frame with frame No. 9).
The explanation will be given hereby on the editing work for obtaining 50% slow reproduction images from a part of this moving image 1101.
It will be assumed that a variable effect for setting the reproduction speed to 50% of the normal speed is applied to three frame image portions from the time code (time code corresponding to the frame number) "3" to the time code "5" of the original image material 1101. As a result, a new image material 1103, that is, the image information in which each of the three frame images described above continues twice, is registered as a new cut to an image editing apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2. A new contracted image information corresponding to the image material 1103 registered in this manner is stored in a memory and its contracted image is displayed on a screen.
FIG. 5 shows an example of an operation screen display in a monitor of the image editing apparatus. On the screen are displayed a material window 201 for tabulating and displaying a contracted moving image corresponding to each image material (image information for each cut) registered to the image editing apparatus, a pop-up monitor window 202 for selecting and designating the image displaying and the special effect processing and a time line window 203 for aligning a plurality of image materials in association with one another in a predetermined sequence.
Here, the contracted images 301 as the representative images of the image materials registered at the start of editing process are displayed in the material window 201. A text of the name, title, etc, of each image material is displayed below and near the display position of the contracted images 301.
The contracted image or images corresponding to those image materials which are desired to be used for the program are selected from the material window 201 by an external input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, and so forth. The pop-up monitor window 202 such as the one shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the monitor and the image of the selected image material is displayed in a moving monitor area 407 of the pop-up monitor window 202.
An IN-point button 403 and an OUT-point button 404 are selected and designated so as to select the image range, to which the special effect processing is applied, from among the image materials. When the IN-point button 403 is selected and designated, an instruction is given so as to position as IN-point mark 402 to a position corresponding to the start point of the image range on a position control bar 401. Next, when an OUT-point button 404 is selected and designated, an instruction is given so as to position an OUT-point mark 405 to a position corresponding to the end point of the image range on the position control bar 401.
When the kind of the special effect applied to the selected range described above is the variable effect (motion effect), a motion effect button 406 on the pop-up monitor window 202 is selected and designated, so that a motion effect setting panel shown in FIG. 7 is displayed. In this motion effect setting panel, the reproduction speed is set at a ratio of the reproduction speed after setting to the normal reproduction speed by the mouse or the keyboard operating by using a reproduction speed set dialog box 601. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the ratio is set and inputted to 75.00%. A duration length (the length associated with the number of frames and the time length) is also set by using a duration length set dialog box 602. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the length is set and inputted to 351 frames. Alternatively, a frame ratio corresponding to the number of frames appearing per unit time is set by using a frame ratio set dialog box 603. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the frame ratio is set to 22.50 FPS (frames per second). After any one of the set inputs described above is effected, an OK button 604 is selected and designated and designation of the variable effect is completed. In addition, a button 408 for designating special effects other than the variable effect, such as fit-to-fill, strobe motion, freeze frames, etc, is also provided in the pop-up monitor window 202 shown in FIG. 6.
When editing is executed to designate the reproduction sequence of the cuts of the image material 1103 which are registered afresh and to which the variable effect is applied or other registered image materials, area displays corresponding to each of the cuts are arranged so that the area displays such as an area display 302 of the time line window 203 represented by oblique lines in FIG. 5 and an area display 303 represented by an oblique grid are arranged at predetermined positions, such as on the right side of the area display 302 by the mouse or keyboard operating. The edition sequence information of the image materials corresponding to these area displays arrangement are generated in this way. Editing of the moving images is carried out as the sequence information generated in this way is stored in the magnetic memory device.
According to the moving image editing method of the prior art described above, however, the image material 1103 to which the variable effect is applied and which is generated afresh is completely independent of the original image material 1101 and has no association with the latter. Therefore, relational information representing from which portion of the original image material the new image material 1103 is generated is lost.
Therefore, when editing is so made as to connect the image material portions 1102 and 1104 shown in FIG. 3 among the original image material 1101, to which the special effect applied to the portions from the time code "3" to the time code "5" in the example in FIG. 2 is not applied, and the image material 1103 to which the special effect is applied and which is registered afresh, an operator must conduct the operation of registering afresh each the image material portions 1102 and 1104 to which the special effect is not applied, as the image material.
To conduct this operation, the operator must store the time codes corresponding to the frame image of the IN point and the time code corresponding tothe frame image of the OUT point of the portions in the original image material to which the special effect must be applied (the time codes of "3" and "5" in FIG. 2). Thereafter, the operator must select and designate the leading frame image of the original image material (time code "0") and the frame image immediately before the IN point frame image (time code "2"), and the frame image string between these designated frame images are registered as the new image material 1102. Similarly, the frame image string from the fraame image immediately after the OUT point frame image (time code "6") to the last frame image of the original image material (time code "9") is registered as the new image material 1104.
Therefore, the troublesome operation of registering especially those frame image strings to which the special effect is not applied as the new image materials separately from the image material to which the special effect is applied and which are registered afresh must be carried out.
The editing operation using the special effect image will be explained more concretely. It will be assumed hereby, for example, that the motion of a tennis player is imaged and this image is edited as the image material by the conventional editing apparatus. It will be assumed further that this imaging operation covers the period in which the tennis player poses for the ball and starts swinging a racket, the ball is hit by the racket and files away and the player fully swings off the racket.
When the image based on such as image material is broadcasted in a television broadcasting program, the slow motion editing operation among the variable effect described above is applied to the images of an arbitrary period from before to after the impact of the ball in order to have the image of the instant of the impact more clearly viewed by television watchers, and the edited images are stored and registered as the new image material.
However, the image material to which the variable effect is applied in this way is not broadcasted by itself from time to time. For instance, the image material before the slow motion-processed image material of in other words, the image from posing of the tennis player to the impact, or the image material after the slow motion-processed image material, that is, the image from the impact to swing-off the racket, is broadcasted with the slow motion image.
Therefore, separately from the editing processing for applying the slow motion effect, the editor must designate the range from posing of the tennis player before the slow motion-processed image material as the new image material, must designate similarly the range after the slow motion-processed image material to swing-off of the racket as a new image material, and must register especially these designated ranges, respectively.
In the broadcasting program, the image material from posing of the tennis player for the coming ball till immediately before the slow motion image described above is broadcasted as such at the normal reproduction speed. Then, the images immediately before and after the impact, to which the slow motion effect is applied, are broadcasted in succession to the image material described above. The image materials immediately after the image in the slow motion period till swing-off of the racket are broadcasted as such at the normal reproduction speed in succession to the slow motion image. In this way, the operation from posing of the tennis player till swing-off of the racket is reproduced without the interruption of the images and at the same time, the instant of the impact is broadcasted by slow reproduction.
Another problem of the operation described above is that the operator must store the time codes corresponding to the IN point of the image material portion to which the special effect is applied and the frame image of the OUT point irrelevantly to the image editing apparatus.
A computer-aided image editing system is disclosed in a User's Guide of "News Cutter 3.0", Avid Technology, Inc., Part 2, chapters 5, 6 and 7 and Part 3, chapter 8".